Czech Republic Vz53/80

[James C]

very nice and great result opex ,the hood tucks in well ,

[Gunny Hartmann]

Reference picture of CZ troops in Gulf war 1991. Very interesting helmet covers, can anyone shed any more light on the name of the pattern,or any other information regarding these helmet covers??

Attachment 471681

That camo has got me puzzled, i can't find it anywhere!...

[Opex]

Thanks James, I would prefer to have one of the Desert covers on it, but I'm happy with this set up.

[Opex]

Hi Gunny, yes apart from this reference picture, and information I have gained from reference books on the usage of Desert covers in use with the Czech forces in the 1st Gulf war, I have yet to see an example anywhere.

I would love to source one one day, ever the optimist .

[Spitace41]

Out of interest, what reference books are you guys using as they sound pretty useful. Cheers.

[Opex]

Out of interest, what reference books are you guys using as they sound pretty useful. Cheers.

Hi, I find the Osprey reference books very useful in respects of the Gulf War.

Regards.

Opex

[Spitace41]

Ah right, many thanks.

[James C]

hi opex ,i really like these helmet covers in your referance picture ,i did my own research and am disapointed to say i cant find much information apart from the chemical detection unit was a team of 169 personnel and hired by the saudi government ,there is very little more on the subject ,ive looked through all the czech cammo patterns and nothing is close to this style on these helmets at first i thought it might be the salamander pattern but worn inside out with the patterns bleaching through also i wondered if it was an early version of the current 2 colour desert pattern this has pinkish hues of which i can see hints of this on the lids my final theory is they are handmade one off's specific to this unit i notice each helmet pattern is unique maybe even hand drawn over some cloth ,on the plus side ive managed to pick up an exact pair of desert googles like in your referance picture they are very similar to the bundeswehr design with the sun visor over the clear lens ,

[Tinhat]

I’ve also been looking at this, and although I’ve got nothing concrete to back this up, I think the black outline may be done with a marker pen.

If you look closely at each cover, the guy in the right foreground has a really well defined camo, the guys on the left less so, the black splodges don’t follow the same form either, the guy with the goggles looks like he isn’t part of the gang.
Bearing in mind that most of the Western armies were unprepared kit wise for desert warfare, I find odd that the Czechs would have desert pattern covers at all, let alone a unique pattern.

Could they have borrowed helmet covers form one of the Arab coalition armies that used the Czech helmets and doctored them?
The cover on the Egyptian soldier on the right is different to the others and has slight similarities.

[James C]

I’ve also been looking at this, and although I’ve got nothing concrete to back this up, I think the black outline may be done with a marker pen.

If you look closely at each cover, the guy in the right foreground has a really well defined camo, the guys on the left less so, the black splodges don’t follow the same form either, the guy with the goggles looks like he isn’t part of the gang.
Bearing in mind that most of the Western armies were unprepared kit wise for desert warfare, I find odd that the Czechs would have desert pattern covers at all, let alone a unique pattern.

Could they have borrowed helmet covers form one of the Arab coalition armies that used the Czech helmets and doctored them?
The cover on the Egyptian soldier on the right is different to the others and has slight similarities.

im glad im not the only one to think these are hand drawn ,i also agree the outline was done with black marker pen ,as crude as it sounds its the only possible theory ,the guy with the googles at the back of the group looks to be wearing a cover made from a jacket hood ,it looks to be the same colour as the clothing very much how opex has dressed his vz 53